Installing 60w rooftop solar panel

[Gumb]

  Installing horizontal solar panels - not worth the time, effort or cost I reckon! 

I agree 100%. Fixed panel;s are a waste of time. A mate of mine has a Kimberley Karavan with 400W on the roof but he can never achieve those numbers due to the posotion of the panels. 50% would be the best, so now he's also got a 250W portable system as well. That can charge the van or the car which also runs a fridge. I've got a 150W system and never get close to running low.....as long as it's sunny ! Built if I get sun for just a few hours, I can place thge panels in the right spot and can top the batteries up in a couple of hours. 

[dudders57]

Hi guys, lots of information there, so thanks very much for your input.
Only got the 60w panel to top up the battery that runs the LED lights and water pump. So think the 100amp battery should handle that with a little bit of trickle charging from the panel.
Got 2 sets of portable solar panels for the fridge though, as some have said, they do provide better power input than the fixed system.
My main issue was how to run the cables without them being exposed, and where to run the cabling to the MPPT solar regulator and then to the batteries. I will get some of those glands for sure.
I will try and supply photos of the install as its being done. I'm not that technically savvy, so should be interesting.
I really appreciate everyones input. Great Forum.

[Pete and Lez]

We went down the portable solar panel path for a while, trouble is they weigh 22kg and take up a lot of space, this is a 200 watt set up. Replaced them with a 190 watt solar blanket which weighs around 7kg and folds up very compact, which we just lay flat on the ground and it works a treat, have always had enough charge to keep fridge in the camper running. Using 2 x 135 amp deep cycle batteries on camper and charge thru a 40 amp bcdc charger.

Cheers

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

Swapped out the Red Anderson Sockets for yellow ones.
Now as I originally intended, for the solar input.